Case Study

Learners must correctly complete the following project based on the scenario provided:

Business overview

ABC Real Estate is a small organisation that has a core business of selling garden plant seeds by mail order. Orders are received by telephone or through the business' web site. ABC Real Estate competes with all businesses that sell the same products either through mail order or through shop front retail outlets. This includes large companies, nurseries and seed wholesalers.

ABC Real Estates' customers are mostly from small rural communities where there are few or no shop front retail outlets supplying seeds. ABC Real Estate maintains a diverse range of seed varieties to provide customers with a wide selection.

A key customer service performance objective is to dispatch product within one working day of receiving the order. Orders are prepared and sent to the Post Office by 1:00 pm each day to ensure that overnight dispatch occurs.

ABC Real Estate has a single CEO who has the responsibility to manage the overall business. There are two supervisors who report directly to the CEO. One supervisor manages orders and dispatch, while the other supervisor manages marketing, seed stock supplies and determines the product range that will be available for sale. At peak periods, there are three people working in dispatch, but in non-peak times there are only two people. There is one person working solely in marketing and sales catalogue production. The CEO is responsible for all other aspects of the business. Outsourcing is used for accounting, web page development and management, and recruitment.

Mission statement

ABC Real Estate is committed to:

providing high quality garden seed products

providing a prompt mail order service

offering a diverse range of garden seeds

providing personalised service

employing enthusiastic staff

adopting sustainable work practices

undertaking continuous improvement processes.

Strategic objectives

Over the five year period from 2017-2022 ABC Real Estate has the following strategic objectives:

consolidate and expand its niche position in the garden seed retail market for small rural communities

improve operational efficiency

increase cash reserves to better manage peaks and troughs in demand.

Business objectives

ABC Real Estate will focus on the following business goals in 2017 to support its five (5) year strategic plan:

Financial stability:

-Increase sales income by 10% annually

-Increase profit levels from 10% of sales income to 15% of sales income

-Invest 10% of current profit into supporting business plan initiatives

Market position:

-Expand product sales into one new rural region

-Promote seed products on a seasonal basis to existing customers

Human resources:

-Create greater flexibility in working hours and work location

Customer service:

-Increase trading hours to accommodate after hour and weekend sales

-Improve telephone and on-line ordering procedures to provide improved levels of customer service

Product range:

-Undertake research to better match sales catalogue to region, climate and season

-Remove products from range that make a net loss

Operational plan 2017

A customer service item from the ABC Real Estate operational plan for 2017 is outlined in the table below. This item supports specific strategic and business objectives and is to be implemented using continual improvement processes that are initiated and developed at a work team level.

Activity

Improve telephone and online ordering procedures to provide improved levels of customer service

Objective

Change the telephone and online ordering procedures to improve overall customer satisfaction.

Outcome

When making online or phone orders, customers are to experience a prompt, efficient and friendly service. The aim is to have zero customer dissatisfaction from the online and phone ordering process.

How will it be done?

Use continuous improvement methods.

Responsible person

Dispatch supervisor and dispatch team.

When?

Autumn 2017

Budget

$2000

Performance indicator

Improved online a phone ordering procedures in place by July 31, with procedures in place for ongoing continual improvement.

Answer the following questions about the individual and team development requirements for the dispatch team. Assume you are filling the role of dispatch team leader.

CS1

The operational plan for the customer service improvement item requires use of continuous improvement methods. Using the assumption that neither you nor your team has any experience or knowledge on continuous improvement methods. Undertake some research to determine what this entails. Scope out what professional development may be required by your team to successfully implement this operational plan activity. Document the information that you have found as a short digital slide presentation, with the intent of explaining what continuous improvement means and to open discussion about professional development that may be required.

CS2

Search the Training.Gov website [http://training.gov.au/Home/Tga] for the unit of competencyBSBFLM309 - Support continuous improvement systems and processes (Release 1).Explain how this unit of competency would be appropriate for your team's professional development requirements on continuous improvement. Your justification should include:

a)How the knowledge the unit will provide is relevant to the operational plan requirements.

b)How the skills that will be developed are relevant to the operational plan requirements.

CS3

At the same website, examine theCertificate III in Business (BSB30115) qualification that contains the unitBSBFLM309 - Support continuous improvement systems and processes (Release 1) as an elective.The course has a number of other elective units that may be relevant to your team's need for implementing this particular customer service activity. Select four additional units of competency that your feel are relevant and justify why you have made this choice in terms of the goals and objectives of ABC Real Estateand those of your team.

CS4

One of your team would like to undertake the fullCertificate III in Business (BSB30115)qualification but is a little uncertain of the career pathways that this may open. Conduct some further research to identify the types of jobs or positions that this qualification would suit. Provide a table with a summary of this information.

CS5

Through the implementation of the customer service operational plan, there will be a need to evaluate your team's performance. The operational plan activity already has defined outcomes and key performance indicators, but there are no criteria for evaluating team performance. Produce list of criteria that could be used to evaluate the team's performance in each of the following areas:

a)tracking of team goals, objectives and productivity productivity

b)quality of work team outputs

c)extent to which the team is meeting its purpose, role(s) and workplace responsibilities

d)the quality of relationships and inter-personal communication

Produce table with each of the criteria listed on a separate row. For each criterion, outline how you will collect data and team feedback that will assist in the evaluation process.

CS6

Your team has decided that they do not want to participate in an accredited training program on continuous improvement. However, they feel that a customized non-accredited internal training program that focuses specifically on the needs of the customer service operational plan item would be more appropriate. Produce a list of three objectives that set out what needs to be achieved through this non-accredited professional development program. Use Bloom's Taxonomy to select appropriate verbs for your objectives.

CS7

As the team leader, you are required to run the internal professional development program. Consider your objectives in Q6 above and Produce outline of how you would facilitate this as a series of three sessions, each of one-hour duration. Outline what resources you would require to run these sessions. Produce a plan for each of the three learning sessions.

CS8

Produce a suitable questionnaire that would allow you to evaluate participant feedback for each of the three learning sessions.

CS9

After the first training session, you receive feedback from the participants that indicates that they did not achieve the objective(s) that had been set. After further questioning and with some self-reflection, you realise that the information you were presenting contained far too much textual information and that key points were not obvious. Outline some strategies that could be adopted to ensure that key points are emphasised.

CS10

The CEO has suggested that mentoring and coaching should be used as facilitation strategies for the internal professional development program. Produce a strategy where the professional development objectives could be achieved through coaching. Explain why this would be effective and where possible problems may exist. Explain why mentoring would not be appropriate for this scenario.

CS11

Produce a new training plan, based around coaching as the main facilitation technique. Include an indication of the amount of time that may be required for preparation and for actual coaching activities.

CS12

Produce a suitable questionnaire that would allow you to evaluate if the professional development objectives had been achieved.

CS13

The final evaluation of the professional development program indicates that your team understands the concepts of continuous improvement, but they believe it is not possible to achieve this in the ABC Real Estateworkplace. Their reasons for suggesting this is because they feel that any innovative ideas they are likely to suggest will be ignored. Consider what further aspects of team development may be needed to overcome this problem.

CS14

Produce a record of the professional development program that can be stored in each person's training file. The information must also be suitable for participants to use for their own professional development folder and for maintaining their curriculum vitae.